Thursday, February 28, 2008

Yes, Noah and I were in Wal-Mart today shopping for stuff for the 30 Hour Famine (if you miss it, you're going to miss all the fun games...).

I'm in a section trying to find a set of five different colored stickers, which of course is impossible because the fact that I'm looking for five means they only come in packs of four colors. So as I search for a five packer, the woman and her little 3-4 year old by me are having a conversation over money, that went as follows:

Mom: Sorry honey, but you don't have any money left this month.

Daughter: When do I get more money?

Mom: March first. [I now start wondering how a 3 year old has a monthly allowance]

Daughter: But when is that?

Mom: In two more days.

Daughter: I can buy it in two days? Yay. [Apparently we're teaching the daughter fiscal responsibility]

Mom: Well, I don't know, you still may not have enough. It's sixteen dollars. [So apparently she does get an allowance, but not a very big one. I also start wondering if this is the only way other than Birthday and Christmas this child gets toys]

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Going away for the weekend, meeting new people, seeing old friends I haven't seen for a year, all fun, but man it's nice to be home. In my own bed, being with Lorie, seeing the bunny, eating food that I don't have to wolf down and hurry to the next "thing", all so much fun. But the mess on my desk is still there so if we could get that fixed...

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Sorry, I didn't realize it's been so long since I posted. I hung out with some pretty regular bloggers this weekend, so I have to do a little better.

I'm at the National Youth Ministry Convention and it's been great. No sleep, running around fixing technical stuff, seeing friends I haven't seen in months, even got to meet Tony Dungy (he's a nice guy). It's been a cool couple of days and it's been good to see that even with all the planning and people working here to make this run smoothly, they still have all the little hiccups we have at our church :)

So I really don't have anything to say, but as I've found out, neither does any other blogger. I read a lot of I Samuel yesterday, a book I know really well (I did my master's thesis on a related topic), so that was fun and relaxing. And in reading it I remember how David, the man described in the Bible as "A man after God's own heart" still was human and messed up just like me, sometimes worse (I haven't had anyone killed because I wanted to marry their wife I got pregnant after seeing her naked from my roof, so I don't feel so bad). And it's nice how we talk about stuff like that here at the convention. Last night they made a literal cloud of witnesses. They had everyone in the room write down a failure or thing they struggle with, ball up the paper, then throw it in the air at unison so everyone could see a cloud of how we all fail but can all help each other out. Kinda nice...

Okay, I've rambled on long enough for someone who had nothing to say. Can't wait to see my lovely wife, I miss you...

Friday, February 08, 2008

Yes, I love the Celtic legends, they're more full of Christianity than most American ones, but this one takes the cake.

So the story goes that long, long ago there was a war in heaven. Even Biblical scholars have little to no problem with this one, the angels dividing, some to become demons and fight for satan and the rest to stand by God, fighting for Him. But in this Celtic version there was one more group of people. The Leprechaun.

No, I'm not kidding, the little people stood on the side of the angels as the demons started cursing them down and swearing about what they would do, but once the battle started, things changed. The angels flew through the skies, Gabriel throwing rocks at the demons, Michael hurling lightning bolts. But what about the leprechauns? Well, they felt they were neither big enough to throw rocks, or powerful enough to control lightning, they felt as if they could do nothing at all, so they hid. The story goes they opened a door under the golden steps to heaven and hid inside until the war was over.

At the end, the angels were triumphant and the demons were chased out of heaven. But in that time, the little people emerged from their hiding place and were confronted by Gabriel. He looked at them and bluntly said, "If you do not have the courage to stand up for what you believe in, you don't deserve heaven. But you've done nothing wrong to deserve hell neither." And it is for this reason that leprechaun's are still in the world today, still hiding, still afraid to fight.

Now I don't care if you believe in leprechauns or not. I've done some reading that makes me think their roots in Celtic legend are far more than we've made them to be, in fact before Christianity they were thought to bepowerful spirits but it was stories like this that reduced them to little fairies. Either way, believe what you want. Either way, it doesn't really effect the way you live your life. But the statement that Gabriel made does. Do you have the courage to stand up for what you believe, or will you forever hide?

Monday, February 04, 2008

My apologies to those who are not in our student ministry, this is more of a housekeeping one today.

Last night we had our "Football" Party. We asked people to bring some food and drinks if they could, but we also said that everything was free. At the beginning of the night, we asked that we not forget our Compassion Children we sponsor and give to them, especially as one student put it, since we're eating all this food for free watching a big TV while they need food. So how did we do?

$5.50, a little over a nickel per person that was there.

I know we can do a lot better than that guys and gals. Every single penny we take in for offering at Fire & Water goes to feed people overseas, so please give generously.

Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. ~Luke 12:33-34